And they look as good as they sound!
This has been a two year project, believe it or not. One thing or another, but unforuntately usually not speaker building. For a recap of events leading to this day, see here:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=62101.0First off thanks to Danny not only for his tremdous hand in helping me selecting these speakers and assembly help as it was needed, but also for making these great speakers available in kit form for an amazing price. When I first approached Danny about these speakers he encouraged me to compare them to any speaker in the $800 range. Until now I never did confess to anyone that the week before I had done just that. I auditioned two pairs of speakers, a set of Paradigm Studio 20's (I think $900/pair) and some Rega (I forget the model but they were monitors in the $500/pair price range). I walked out trying to justify the Studio 20's cost for two pairs and a center. Satisfying bass, lush mid range, and delicate highs. They are what I would call a warm and sweet sounding speaker (the Regas were the exact opposite, clinical and cold, I had to turn them off in 5 minutes). The A/V-1's tonally are very similar to the Studio 20's and for the kit price the decision was a no brainer for me. I immediately ordered a kit for five A/V-1s with all upgrades and the CNC routered baffles & grills.
Anyway, fast forward to today. They are done at last. These were finished in Figured Koa (no, that is not a mispelling) veneer and have four coats of Formby's Gloss Tung Oil Finish. Formby's Tung Oil Finish should not be confused with Tung Oil, although exactly what it consists of is a closely guarded secret. Whatever it is, it behaves (and is applied) like a wipe on varnish. Normally before using this I will put down two coats of a real oil finish (may or may not be Tung oil), however test strips revealed the best finish was actually to apply the Formby's straight. Koa is a very pourous wood and I elected not to fill the pours as it obscured the figure. Personally I find the orange peel like look of the unfilled pours to look quite nice.
First coat I brushed on a fairly thick coat so there was ample finish to soak in. Then I sanded with 400 grit almost completely back to bare wood. Coats 2-3 I lightly buffed the wood with a scotch bright pad before wiping on the next coat (more or less the lable directions).
The results:
Front set (the center is obscured behind the panel in the entertainment center). I realize this is by no means optimal placement but it is WAF placement. Actually for just tossing them where they happen to fit they do quite well even on 2 channel material. The subwoofer on the right is an ACI Titan kit I bought probably close to 7 years ago and finished at the same time I did the AV-1s. Electronics are a home built HTPC (top right) and a Cambridge Audio 640r reciever (Bottom left). Sub is crossed over at 60Hz.
Rear pair - I guess the flash caught these at just the right angle as the figure really popped here!
Closeups of the finished speaker-
(with Canare 4S11 speaker cable and locking banna's)
Closeups of the finished Koa veneer
Macro shot of the finished Koa veneer -- Beautiful stuff (also expensive)!
Thanks for looking!
